In her fight to protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke, Breathe California executive director Margo Sidener spoke to national and international audiences. But one of her most contentious battles was close to home.

In her capacity as head of what was then the local chapter of the American Lung Association, Sidener was often the voice of those seeking to ban smoking in public places in the early 1990s.

“Most people are unaware of our struggle to get nonsmokers’ rights protected, of what it was like in the beginning,” she said. “The name-calling and telephone harassment were bad enough, but when someone threw bricks through our windows and I had to be escorted by police to my car after a rowdy public hearing on smoke-free bars, it gave me pause to think. Still, we carried on.”

Sidener retired on March 1 after carrying on the fight against lung disease for 33 years, a fight that saw California in 1995 became the first state to enact a statewide smoking ban in bars and other public spaces.

During her tenure, she founded the Tuberculosis Prevention Partnership of Santa Clara County and co-authored the Strategic Plan for a Tobacco-Free San Jose. She also led the agency through its 2006 transition from an affiliate of a national association to the local arm of a Northern California nonprofit also dedicated to fighting lung disease.

She also devoted her time to training facilitators for local and national smoking-cessation programs and to mentoring interns who have followed in her footsteps in the local public health sector.

Sidener joined the agency as a volunteer when her infant son was diagnosed with asthma and had a scary episode with hospitalization. She was brought on staff in 1982, then promoted to director of programs, and in five years was promoted to executive director.

Making sure children in particular are breathing clean air is still high on Sidener’s list of goals. Toward the end of her tenure, she saw NBC Bay Area award Breathe California a $25,000 grant for its program that converts diesel-powered school buses to solar power.

After leading multiple grassroots efforts to reduce air pollution, Sidener believes technology is the next big hope.

“There is still so much work to be done to ensure clean air,” she said, “especially as our population grows.”

For more information on Breathe California of the Bay Area, visit lungsrus.org.